Lord Voldemort and the Relucantant Horcrux
by FirenIce15
Summary: While possessing Harry in the Department of Mysteries Voldemort realizes that Harry is one of his horcruxes and so he decides to convert the boy to the dark side but Harry is not going to be swayed easily
1. Chapter 1: An Unwelcome Discovery

Lord Voldemort and the Reluctant Horcrux

Summary: After possessing Harry in the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort realizes that Harry is a Horcrux. He decides to convert Harry to his cause which is a lot harder than it sounds.

Rating: T

AN: yes, I know there are lots of stories like this floating around the internet and usually I try not write things that have already been done to death, but this just will NOT get out of my head so here it is…take it or leave it.

Legal Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling; I am just having fun playing in her sandbox.

Chapter One: An Unwelcome Discovery

Lord Voldemort was in his study fuming. If it hadn't been beneath his dignity as a Dark Lord he would have kicked himself. Really, how could he have been so blind, how could have missed his own horcrux when it was right under his nose?! In hindsight it was so obvious, the strange connection between his mind and the boy's, Potter being able to speak parseltongue despite the fact that no Potter in history had EVER had the ability. He shook his head, if he had missed something that HUGE what else had he missed, some genius he turned out to be.

Abruptly he mentally smacked himself. 'Enough' he thought to himself 'quit dwelling on the past and figure out what to do now'. He had three options, number one he could go ahead and kill the boy anyway he had other horcruxes. He discarded that option almost immediately, thanks to Regalus' treachery and Lucius' harebrained scheming he had already lost two of his horcruxes (the blonde was paying for that, even if he didn't know WHY he was being punished) and he was loathe to lose any others.

Option two, he could kidnap the boy and lock him in the dungeons for eternity. After some additional thought Voldemort discarded that idea as well, between his followers' obscene incompetence and Potter's extraordinary luck, that was a disaster waiting to happen. Besides in all likelihood the boy would eventually commit suicide or something and then he'd lose another horcrux.

That left option three; he would have to convert the boy. He knew that it would not be easy; the boy was stubborn not unexpected considering what he was. Voldemort however was not to be deterred, in truth he enjoyed challenges and besides sooner or later he always got what he wanted therefore it was only a matter of time before Harry Potter would be his loyal servant. He smiled as he imagined the shocked looks on the light's faces when the realized their golden boy belonged to Voldemort. There were other advantages as well, if he played his cards right Potter's 'betrayal' would be a devastating blow to the Light's morale, if the boy they were counting on to 'save' them decided to join the enemy instead. He was not naïve enough to believe that the Light would simply surrender immediately after losing Potter but it would weaken them. Another plausible course entered his brain, he could use the boy as a spy, yes he had Severus but the potions master was not the best spy. It wasn't for lack of talent, there were two problems limiting Severus' effectiveness as a spy. The first was that the Light did not completely trust him that would not be an issue with Harry, who would suspect the boy-who-lived of joining the person who killed his parents? The other problem was that Voldemort didn't trust him either; he knew where the Potions Master's loyalties truly laid and it was not with him or Dumbledore.

"_Master, what's bothering you?" _Nagini hissed as she slithered into the room, she had been out hunting until she sensed Voldemort's agitation and returned to investigate

His familiar was the only one that Voldemort would even consider confiding in and he only told her some things

"_It's nothing Nagini; I have just discovered something…unsettling"_

"_Did one of the incompetent humans ruin another one of your brilliant plans?" _Nagini asked him

"_No, Nagini not this time." _Voldemort said "_I have discovered that you have a brother"_

If snakes could blink in surprise, Nagini would have. "_A brother master?" _she asked

"_Yes, it seems when I failed to kill Harry Potter I unintentionally" _Voldemort beganIt was NOT an accident, he was a dark lord and dark lords NEVER did anything by accident "_made him into another horcrux. So I am afraid that I won't be feeding him to you, after all. You can have Wormtail instead."_

"_Eww, master no" _Nagini replied "_have you SEEN him? He'd probably give me some horrible disease. How about you get me a nice piglet to eat instead?"_

Voldemort smiled slightly Nagini never failed to amuse him "_Very well, a piglet it is."_

Now that Nagini and Voldemort had decided what her next meal was going to be, Nagini curled up in front of the fireplace and soon after doing so drifted off to slumber.

Voldemort continued sitting and thinking, really of all the people in Britain why did POTTER have to be his horcrux? The boy who had stopped him getting the sorcerer's stone four years ago (he didn't blame the boy for what happened on Halloween, his mother had done that), the boy-who-lived-to-be-a-thorn-in-Voldemort's-side; well it could be worse; at least he wasn't a blood-traitorous Wealsey or a mudblood. He couldn't hate Harry anymore; for one the boy was a part of him and Dark Lords did not hate themselves, they just hated everyone else. Secondly, he was going to be stuck with Harry for all eternity, hating him would not accomplish anything except making his immortal life more difficult.

Now once converted the boy would also have to be highly trained, he was protecting Voldemort's immortality and he needed to be able to defend it from all threats. That was one advantage to living horcruxes, they could protect themselves. He had protected his other horcruxes as best as he could with wards and enchantments but those horcuxes were still only objects, if someone broke those enchantments there was nothing the object itself could do in order to stop them from destroying it but living horcruxes were different, they could fight back. He would make sure that his Harry would be able to defend himself from any wizard that dared raise a wand to Lord Voldemort's horcrux. Wait HIS Harry where had that come from? Nevertheless, it was true. Harry Potter carried a piece of his soul within him that meant that he belonged to Voldemort whether Harry liked it or not. It was well past time for him to reclaim his property from the muggle-loving, senile, old fool…and he knew just how to do it. Part of his brain whispered that getting the boy was the easy part, but he ignored that part of his brain, after all he had to get the boy before he tried to convert him.


	2. Chapter 2: Capture

Chapter 2: Capture

Voldemort used the connection between his mind and Harry's to discover Harry's location from within his mind. He also learned that there were blood wards but that didn't bother him because A, he'd expected that and B, because he now shared Harry's blood so the wards would not be able to block him now.

He also learned that the Dursleys abused Harry and he was enraged. How dare those foul loathsome muggles treat a wizard child that way?! They should be thanking their lucky stars for the HONOR of raising one. He was even more infuriated because it was HIS Horcrux that they were abusing, Harry Potter belonged to Voldemort and no one should even look at him without permission from the dark lord. There was NO WAY he was going to let this go unpunished.

It did make things a bit more complicated, his original plan had been to simply kill the muggles and take the boy but now he wanted the muggles to suffer severely before they died. Then another thought entered his brain…maybe he should leave the muggles for now and let Harry exact vengeance himself. Yes, they would make good practice dummies for his introduction to dark arts and curses more broadly because from the reports he had received from Severus and other sources the boy's spell repertoire was severely limited.

Having made up his mind, he adjusted his plans a little. He would have to wait for a couple of days. Harry had deduced the schedule of his order guards and Voldemort had discovered that through their mental connection. The day after tomorrow, Mundungus would have watch and more often than not, he left for a time in order to conduct his business…apparently not even the incident with the dementors had been enough to teach him not to do that. Normally Voldemort would have crucioed the fool for not protecting his horcrux better but this time he would use the man's laxity to his advantage.

A few days later, Voldemort apparated to Privet Drive, once he got there he immediately noticed how every house was exactly the same even the gardens in front were strikingly similar to each other. Voldemort's lips curled in distaste, really muggles were so pathetic. He then turned himself invisible (like Dumbledore he had learned to do that without needing to rely on a cloak) so that no muggles would see him

After walking a little bit he found number four at the same time the Dudley Dursley came down the street. He was heading home for supper after a day out with his gang. Voldemort used his magic sense to search for any hidden wizards, he found none. He was slightly amazed by how perfectly everything was going, no Mundungus and the fat imbecile cousin showing precisely when Voldemort wanted him too. Voldemort pulled out his wand and discretely cast an imperius curse on the muggle.

Since the fat lug had virtually no will power to speak of he succumbed to the curse immediately.

"Go home and get your parents to take you out for pizza. Make sure they don't bring Harry." Voldemort ordered. He knew enough about the Dursleys to know that the chances of that happening were slim to none but Lord Voldemort had not gotten to be the greatest sorcerer in the world relying on chance.

Dudley nodded and walked into his house. A few minutes later three figures, (Harry had dubbed them the walrus, the giraffe and the pig) exited the house, got into the car and drove down the street. Voldemort waited until the car was out of sight before crossing the street. As soon as he had set foot on the property he felt the wards' magic, it didn't like him but it could hardly bar him, particularly since he now had Harry's blood in him. He ignored the wards and began picking the lock on the front door.

One might find it surprising that the muggle hating Dark Lord knew that trick; it was something that he had picked up as a kid at the orphanage. The matron had not liked him using his gift and often punished him by withholding food so he had learned early on to pick locks and sneak down to the kitchen to steal food during the night. He had also discovered the wizards often neglected to protect their doors from being unlocked using the muggle method. Anti-lock picking charms did exist, Voldemort used them rather frequently, but many wizards didn't bother, they assumed that protecting their doors from being unlocked by magic was enough…it was a fact that Voldemort had taken shameless advantage of when he was younger.

Another thing about wizards that he had exploited was that they assumed that no wizard bothered to do things without magic. He knew that if he took Harry WITHOUT using any magic, then the Order of the flaming flamingos (as one of his followers had dubbed the Order of the Phoenix) would assume that Harry had left voluntarily instead of having been taken which would make it easier for Harry to return later and play his role as a spy….Voldemort had not yet decided to go that route but he was a man who liked to have options.

Anyway in about a minute Voldemort had picked the lock and opened the door. He walked in and again was disgusted at how ordinary everything was. Everything from the plain beige paint on the walls, to the still unmoving pictures on the mantle screamed normal and boring…Voldemort couldn't wait to be gone from this place or better yet burn it to the ground. Patience, he told himself, his horcrux would do that later; right now he had something far more important to do.

He quickly moved up the stairs to the smallest bedroom. This door had far more locks on it, many of them he didn't even need to pick since they opened without a key, for example, the door bars all he had to do with those was slide the bar over. He still moved slowly so as not to make a lot of noise and risk alerting Harry. He knew that he could subdue the boy, but he didn't want there to be magic for the order to trace when they came to investigate the disappearance of their precious chosen one. There were a few that he did have to pick though including the main one.

Finally Voldemort opened the door. Harry might not have noticed the locks being picked but he definitely HAD noticed the door opening seemingly by itself. The teen immediately jumped up from his bed and raced toward the loose floorboard, mentally cursing his habit of not carrying his wand on him in the muggle world…he blamed the Dursleys for that one, they freaked whenever they noticed it.

Voldemort was not going to let the boy get his wand, using his magically enhanced speed he came along side Harry and hit him over the head. He restrained himself; he used enough force to knock the boy unconscious but not enough to risk causing permanent damage.

Immediately the teen went limp but Voldemort graciously caught him before he hit the floor. As for the trunk and things, that's what house elves were for

"Tilly!" he called out

A few seconds later a small figure joined him in the room. Voldemort did not understand why so many modern wizards underestimated their house-elves so much. House elf magic was powerful and untraceable plus they were fanatically loyal (well, usually).

"Master dark lord sir called Tilly?!" the female elf squeaked

"Yes, Tilly. This boy will be moving into the castle today." Voldemort began

"Is new young master going to be moving into the room Master is having Tilly prepare?" she concluded

"Yes, he is. I want you to gather his things and take them to his new room." Voldemort ordered

"Tilly is doing it right away, Master" the elf responded and immediately began packing the loose books and such into Harry's trunk.

Voldemort left Tilly to it. He moved the unconscious teen so he was carrying him bridal style, well aware that even with his magically enhanced strength the teen was far lighter than he should be the whole while. He made a mental note to have a healer look at the boy as soon as possible and then he carried the boy out of the house. Once he was safely away from the wards, he apparated them both to Slytherin Castle, ancient seat of Slytherin house and the real major stronghold of Lord Voldemort not that run-down hovel 'riddle house' that Dumbledore foolishly assumed he used.


	3. Chapter 3: He's MISSING!

Chapter Three: He's MISSING!

Just minutes after Voldemort apparted away with Harry Arabella Figg returned to her house after having dinner with her nephew and his family. They lived in America and had come to England to see their relatives for the first time in five years; Arabella wouldn't have missed it for the world. However, when she arrived one of her part knealzes, (Mr. Tibbles to be exact) told her that something didn't seem right at the Dursley's house but he wasn't sure what was wrong.

Worrying that Harry was in trouble again, Arabella immediately began dialing the Dursley's number.

The phone rang and rang but no one answered and finally the machine kicked in "Hi Petunia, its Arabella. Listen, I need a favor from you my ah" (thinking quickly on her feet) "backyard garden isn't doing very well and I notice your nephew seems to do a very good job on your garden. I was hoping that maybe he could come over this weekend and help get mine in order, before ALL of my flowers are dead. When you get this message, please give me a call and let me know, it's very important, you know how much I love my flowers, thank you." Then Arabella hung up and waited by the phone.

The more time passed the more nervous she got until finally her phone began to ring. Arabella immediately picked up

"Hello?" she said, for once in her life actually hoping that it WAS Petunia Dursley, usually she wished for the opposite.

"Hi, Arabella its' Petunia, we just got your message. I'm sure the boy would be willing to help you out but unfortunately we can't find him at the moment…the little brat must have taken his things wondered off somewhere."

Petunia would have continued further but Arabella hung up on her.

"Really, that's just plain rude." Petunia said before she hung up her phone as well

Arabella raced outside and she froze when she realized that she had no idea what to do. Mudungus Fletcher was supposed to be on duty this evening until 7:00 when Tonks would take over

There was a crack as said Auror arrived

"Wotcher, Arabella" Tonks greeted in her usual cheerful manner "…where's Mudungus?"

"I don't know" Arabella replied "and I'm afraid that Harry's gone"

"What do you mean gone?!" Tonks asked

"Maybe, I'm just an over reacting old woman but I went out for supper tonight with some visiting relatives of mine and when I came back Mr. Tibbles told me that something was wrong at Potter's house. When I managed to get a hold of Petunia, she said that Harry had taken his things and wondered off somewhere." Arabella told her

"I'll go contact Dumbledore-"

She was cut off when Mudungus apparated back

"Hey girls" he said "what did I miss?"

Arabella immediately starting hitting him with her purse

"What did I tell you about leaving your post?!" she shouted in between smacks

Mudungus raised his arms to protect himself "Hey, stop it! Crazy old bat, I only left for a few minutes to take care of some really important business! The boy's fine!"

"No, he's not. You worthless scumbag, he's MISSING!" Arabella shouted and continuing whacking him

At this point Mudungus had enough and hid himself behind Tonks, shamelessly using her as a human shield

"Arabella, you can beat Mudungus senseless…well even more senseless later. Right now we have to find Harry!" Tonks said urgently "We'll split up, Dung, you go get Dumbledore and tell him that Harry's missing. Arabella you stay here and keep watch in case Harry comes back, I'll starting searching the neighborhood, he can't have gone too far yet." with that she pulled herself away from Mudungus and starting running down the street calling out "Harry, Harry!"

Mudungus apparated back to the village of Hogsmead. After Sirius had died, Grimmauld Place had gone into lockdown waiting for the new owner to take up the wards; no one could get in…not even other members of the Black family like Narcissa Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange. So the order was using Hogwarts as a meeting place temporarily until they could either find a new headquarters or regain access to Grimmauld.

Arabella went back inside her house and kept watch from her living room window.

After about half an hour Dumbledore arrived on Privet Drive…the inability to apparate in or out of Hogwarts was rather annoying at times but it was for the safety of the students.

Dumbledore went to number four and immediately began scanning the wards, searching for evidence of magic. Since Dumbledore was the one who had cast the wards, he was the only one who could do it. Dumbledore found no evidence of magic being used outside the house. So he rang the doorbell

"What do you bloody think you're doing here?!" Vernon demanded when he answered the door. Petunia was in the bathroom taking a bath which was the only reason that Vernon answered instead of her.

"We were told that Harry has gone missing-"

"Ridiculous, the brat just threw a hissy fit because we went out without him after he failed to finish his chores. He knows the rules, 'he, who will not work, will not eat.'"

"I hope you are right Mr. Dursley however with the return of Voldemort these are very dangerous times…especially for Mr. Potter. It is imperative that we find him as soon as possible." Dumbledore waved his wand just slightly as he spoke "I must ask you to let me in, so I can search for clues to where Harry might be."

Vernon's eyes were glued to the wand in Dumbledore's hand when he spoke…"fine, but make it quick!"

"Thank you" Dumbledore replied flatly "Now where is Harry's room?"

"Upstairs, last door on the right." Vernon said

Dumbledore quickly went up the stairs and headed into the bedroom

At first glance it looked the room wasn't even used at least not often. Almost everything in it was broken, except for the bed and the books. Again Dumbledore began scanning the wards; the only magic he found was Harry's magical signature likely a sign of how much time the boy spent in his room. There was no sign of struggle and all of Harry's things were missing

Just to make sure Dumbledore checked the other bedrooms, much to the Dursleys' discomfiture but none of them dared to say anything to anger an armed wizard (in their eyes a wizard's wand was a weapon).

After he finished Dumbledore politely thanked Mr. Dursley for his cooperation and left. He returned to Arabella's to wait for Tonks to finish her search of the neighborhood

"Arabella, may I borrow your owl?" Dumbledore asked the elderly squib

"Of course, but why?" she responded

"The evidence I found at the Dursleys' seems to suggest that Harry left of his own accord-"

"What?! Doesn't he KNOW how dangerous it is out there?! Why when I get my hands on that boy I am gonna-"

"Calm down, Arabella. He is a teenage boy, teenagers are prone to rash actions and he has just lost his godfather. Harry probably just decided that he needed to be alone with his grief for a while." Dumbledore tried to soothe her, although he fully intended to give Harry a very stern talking to when he found the boy.

"Anyway, I want to ask Harry's friends if he told them anything…personally I doubt that he has but we'd better check and make sure."

"Good idea, headmaster." Then Arabella went off and came back with her tawny owl

Dumbledore quickly penned letters (it was a bit difficult for him since Arabella only had muggle pens and no quills) to both Ron and Hermonine telling them that Harry was gone from Privet Drive and asking them if they had any idea where he might have gone.

Once the letters were written the owl flew off.

Before too much longer, Tonks returned

"Any luck?" she asked Dumbledore hopefully

"There was no sign of struggle at the Dursleys' nor has any magic been used there within the past several weeks which seems to suggest that Harry left voluntarily."

"Really, you're sure that Voldemort didn't take him?" Tonks asked

"I believe it is highly unlikely." Dumbledore assured her "the blood wards are still intact and Voldemort could not have gotten past them without destroying them" Dumbledore knew that Voldemort had used Harry's blood in the ritual but he did not believe that a few drops of blood would be enough for Voldemort to be able to go through wards keyed into Harry and his mother's blood and normally he would have been right, except that the Dursleys hated Harry and therefore the wards were weaker and more vulnerable than Dumbledore realized.

"Also my scans revealed that no magic whatsoever has been used in that house for several weeks. If Harry had been taken by Tom, there would have almost certainly been magic involved Tom and his followers aren't known for doing things the muggle way."

"I suppose" Tonks conceded though part of her was still unwilling to give up the idea that Voldemort had kidnapped Harry

"However, it is imperative that we do NOT let anyone know that Harry is missing, if Tom finds him before we do…" Dumbledore trailed off unwilling to continue that train of thought

"Then how are we going to find him?" Tonks asked

"We will have an order meeting and let them know and have them help search, I have already contacted Harry's friends and asked them if they know anything. I am sure I do not need to remind of the importance of keeping the bulk of the ministry in the dark regarding Harry's disappearance?"

Tonks nodded, she knew that many in the ministry could not be trusted; many of them either sympathized with the death eaters, were actual death eaters or were simply incompetent and unable to keep secrets if their lives depended on it. Dumbledore, Tonks and Arabella then proceeded to begin contacting the various members of the order and tell them to meet at Arabella's house as soon as they could

A bit later Arabella's owl returned with word from both Ron and Hermonine, they said that Harry had only written them occasionally and that he had not said anything at all about him running away, Hermonine added that Harry's last letter had asked if they had any idea when the order would be moving him to headquarters.

Eventually a majority of the order members arrived and packed themselves into Arabella's living room. There were however a few noticeable absences, among them Severus Snape who was busy meeting with some of the dark lord's followers and therefore out of reach for any of the order members.

"I am afraid I have some urgent news to report to you all" Dumbledore began "Harry Potter is missing."

There were gasps from many different order members

"How did this happen?" Remus Lupin demanded furiously

The people who knew him best blinked in surprise Remus NEVER talked to Dumbledore like that

Dumbledore brushed it off as a combination of grief for his last friend, Sirius Black and fear for his cub

"I do not know for certain, but from my investigations of the house and the wards, he seems to have left on his own. I am sure I do not need to tell you all, just how important it is that we find him before Tom does."

There were nods all around

"What happens when we do find him?" someone asked

"Let's just focus on finding the boy first" Dumbledore replied "we can figure out what to do with him after we know that he is safe and sound."

Again the order members nodded accepting that answer, Remus Lupin however was not among them. He was terrified for his cub, he'd already lost virtually his entire pack, James, Lily, Sirius…Peter (he still couldn't understand WHY Peter had betrayed them or where it began…he didn't want to believe that Peter had been pretending to be there friend all through school but the logical part of him warned that it was a possibility) Harry was all he had left and he couldn't stand the thought of losing him too. However, there was something about Sirius' death that didn't sit right with him, Lupin didn't know what it was but something about Sirius' death struck him as fishy…as a result he no longer trusted Dumbledore as much as he used to.

"All right, meeting's over. Arabella you stay here. In case Harry comes back before we find him" Dumbledore said "

The squib nodded

"Everyone else, good luck in your search, let me know as soon as you find anything." Dumbledore said

With that the meeting ended and the order members except Arabella herself, left the house to begin the search for Harry Potter.


	4. Chapter 4: Awakening

Chapter Four: Awakening

The first thing Harry realized was that he was lying in the most comfortable bed he'd ever had…not that was saying much but still. He was so comfortable that he didn't want to get up but he was also curious as to where the heck he was. The last thing he remembered was the door to his bedroom door opening but there was no one there. He'd dived for his wand and then nothing.

Slowly he opened his eyes and then he sat bolt upright when he realized that he had no idea where he was. He got out of bed, the whole bedroom was decorated in green and black, the furniture was very elegant. He walked a bit and noticed that his trunk was at the foot of the bed, he looked through it, all his school books were there, along with his quills, his summer work (well, all the summer work he'd started anyway) even the Marauders' Map was there the only things missing were his clothes, his broomstick, and his wand.

He soon found his clothes, the door on the far right led to a walk-in closet. All his clothes were neatly hung up in there, as well as some clothes that he knew were NOT his even though they were his size. He still had no idea where his wand and his firebolt were and frankly those were the two things that he was MOST concerned about. He explored the other rooms, there was a large bathroom that was a lot like the prefects' bathroom at Hogwarts, and the main difference was that it was black with platinum fixtures and a sitting room that was a great deal like the Slytherin common room only with not quite as much furniture.

He suspected that the door on the other side of the sitting room would lead out of the suite but before he could try it, the door opened and a beautiful woman that he had never seen before stepped through

"Ah, good you're awake." She said by way of greeting "My name is Estoria Greengrass-"

Harry knew that there was a Slytherin fifth year at Hogwarts named Daphne Greengrass so he asked

"Are you Daphne Greengrass' mother?"

"Yes…I was not aware you and she associated with each other." Estoria said

"We don't really" Harry responded "We just have had potions together for the past five years. I can recognize her but wouldn't really say that I know her…where are we anyway?"

"I was wondering when you would ask. All I can tell you is that its' called Slytherin Castle only the Dark Lord knows where exactly this is."

The Dark Lord that meant that Voldemort must have taken him…but how had he gotten past the wards…and why wasn't Harry dead or being tortured yet? For that matter, why was he here in this very luxurious suite and not in some dark dank prison cell, surely this was NOT standard practice for prisoners of the dark side; Harry now had even more questions running through his mind than before.

"Now then, I've been ordered to give you a few messages before I started checking you over"

"Checking me for what?" Harry asked warily

"For any injuries, maladies those sorts of things, I'm a healer by profession. I have been instructed to make sure you're healthy."

"Why does Voldemort want me healthy before he kills me?" Harry demanded

To his surprise Estoria smiled "This may comes as a surprise to you, but the Dark Lord has not taken me into his confidence, I do not know what he intends…though I am not certain that he intends to kill you, he wouldn't be going to all this trouble if he did. Now then on to the messages, all the windows are unbreakable, he has assigned Tinky to be your personal house-elf-"

Harry's eyes widened at that, Voldemort had assigned him a personal house elf? That sounded like he planned on Harry being here for a long time, ha, fat chance of that happening. Harry was determined to escape…somehow. Maybe Tinky could get him out.

"So call her if you need anything" Estoria continued "however she and ALL the other house elves here have been ordered not to take you anywhere unless the Dark Lord himself orders them too."

Damn, there went that plan Harry thought

"This part of the Castle is the Dark Lord's private wing. You are free to roam it if you like, well everywhere but the Dark Lord's personal quarters" and then correctly guessing Harry's next question "it's right across the hall but you can't get in there without the password anyway"

Good Harry thought it's not like I'd WANT to get in there anyway

"At the other end of the hall there is a gargoyle guarding the path to the rest of the castle. You are NOT allowed to go past it, there are several death eaters living here and none of them know that you are a guest here-"

"Guest, you mean prisoner!" Harry protested

"No Mr. Potter, prisoners don't get this sort of treatment. I guarantee if you truly WERE a prisoner, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." Estoria chided

"A gilded cage is still a cage" Harry countered

"If you would prefer the dungeon, I am sure the Dark Lord would be happy to accommodate you" Estoria said frankly "Now as I was saying before I was so _rudely _interpreted, you need a password to get past the gargoyle and I am NOT telling you what the password is so don't even ask and don't bother asking the house elves either, they've been ordered not tell you any passwords either. If you DO manage to get past the gargoyle and through the rest of the castle you will not get past the wards. The Dark Lord has placed numerous enchantments on them to prevent anyone from coming or going without his permission. He will know if you attempt to cross the wards and I guarantee you will not like the consequences. Lastly and I quote, try not to be a typical Gryffindor and try something ridiculously brave and dangerously stupid."

It sounded to Harry like Voldemort had covered all his bases but he knew that it couldn't be true; he wouldn't let it be true. He'd find a way to escape, somehow.

Estoria pulled out her wand "Now on to business" she then began to cast several medical scans on Harry

"Hmm, your broke your left arm several years ago didn't you?" she asked

"Yes" Harry said. Dudley had thought it would be fun to hang Harry upside down from the top of the monkey bars when he was six. Dudley however had not tied a very good knot, it came undone and Harry had fallen landing on his left arm and wrist breaking both of them but he had no intention of telling Estoria that "why?"

She sighed "I am afraid it didn't heal quite right, you don't have as much use of that arm as you should"

Harry blinked, he'd never noticed that but then he was right handed so maybe that was why. He couldn't say that he was surprised though; the Dursleys had blamed him for the incident and refused to take him to the doctor so he'd been forced to suffer until it healed naturally

"Unfortunately I am going to have to re-break your arm in order to fix it." she then reached into her bag and pulled out a potion "drink this first, it's a pain reliever. It will help with the pain." She then handed the potion to him

"Re-break the arm; can't you just leave it the way it is?" Harry asked it wasn't bothering him so why bother fixing it?

"No Mr. Potter, I am responsible to the Dark Lord for your health. It won't take long, drink the potion; I'll break your arm and mend it properly in about a minute." Estoria responded

Harry realized that he didn't have much choice so he quickly swallowed the potion and braced himself

"Good now hold still…Ossis Effergo" Estoria said

Despite the potion Harry's arm still hurt some as the bone in his arms broke

"Ossis Reparo" Estoria cast and the pain vanished as Harry's arm bones healed and mended themselves

"There now that's fixed" Estoria said soothingly

"So I'm fine now right?" Harry asked

"…not completely, when was the last time you ate?" Estoria questioned back

"None of your business" Harry replied hotly, not about to get into his treatment with the Dursleys "You healed my arm, you've done your job, now GET OUT!"

"…fine, if that's how you want it." Estoria responded coldly

She then walked out of the room and knocked on the door to the Dark Lord's private quarters

The door opened with no visible hand touching it and she entered

Voldemort was sitting in a throne like chair by the fire, Estoria moved to stand in front of him and before she could spoke Voldemort asked "Well Estoria, how is the boy?"

"He had an old brake in his left arm that hadn't healed properly so I fixed that. My scans also showed that he is severely malnourished I doubt he has eaten much of anything since he left school last month."

Voldemort's eyes flashed angrily, that was something else the Dursleys would have to be punished for

"I trust you relayed my instructions to him as well?" Voldemort asked his servant

Estoria nodded "of course, my lord."

"Very well, Tinky!" Voldemort said

The female popped in and asked "Yes, master?"

"Prepare a plate of food for the Potter boy, his previous guardians neglected to feed him" Voldemort ordered

Tinky's eyes widened in shock and outrage

"Those bad muggles, Tinky will get young master lots of good food"

"NO!" Estoria blurted out

Both Voldemort and the house elf looked at her

"He hasn't eaten in a good while, his stomach won't be able to handle normal sized portions yet" Of course, what a house elf thought of as normal and what a human thought of as normal sized portions were rather different, house elves tended to go overboard by human standards but that was beside the point. "If you feed him too much, it'll make him sick."

"Very well, Estoria, go with Tinky and make sure she makes only as much Potter can handle right now. I want him eating as soon as possible."

"Yes, my lord" Estoria said

Tinky then popped both herself and Estoria to the kitchen

A little bit later Tinky popped into Harry's room with a plate of food

"Here, master is bidding, young master eat." She said

"I take it you're Tinky?" Harry asked

"Yes, I is being Tinky" she answered enthusiastically

"I'm not hungry Tinky" Harry said, he would not eat anything Voldemort gave him, who knew what kind of potions he might put in it? He didn't want to tell the elf that though, he was worried she'd go into a fit if he did.

"Master's healer said young master is not being fed, he is NEEDING to eat" Tinky replied and pushed the tray towards him

"Maybe later Tinky, I am really not hungry now" Harry responded and backed away

Tinky's face fell "Young master doesn't think Tinky is a good cook"

"No, Tinky that's not it" Harry protested "just put it here, and I'll get to it later, ok?"

"No, master said that young master must eat now!" Tinky argued loudly

"Tell your master I am NOT eating anything with his potions in it!" Harry shouted back, having lost his patience

"Tinky put no potions in the food!" she protested furiously "Tinky is a GOOD elf!"

Voldemort heard the shouting from his room and decided that he would have to talk to the boy sooner than he had planned

He opened the door to Harry's room and walked in

"Master!" Tinky exclaimed when she saw him "Young master is refusing to eat his food!"

"Go Tinky, I will deal with this" Voldemort ordered

The elf obediently popped away

"I am NOT eating that" Harry snapped immediately "who knows it's in it." Only after he spoke did he realize that the man who walked in looked like an older Tom Riddle. When he had seen Voldemort before the man had looked snakelike barely human at all but this guy was definitely human and yet he was certain that it was Voldemort from what Estoria had told him…unless she'd been lying, which was possible.

"Oh there are lots of things in it." Voldemort admitted "Proteins, carbohydrates all kinds of _dangerous _things"

"Don't play dumb, you know what I mean!" Harry yelled "I am sure you've laced it with potions or poisons or something."

"It's a good thing you didn't bet on that mister Potter" Voldemort said "because you would lose that bet, I did not put anything in the food." Well he was certain that Estoria had put a nutrition potion in it because it was standard practice among healers, nutrition potions worked better when taken with food, but still HE had nothing to do with that. "Now eat up."

"No, you can't make me!" Harry shouted

Voldemort raised an eyebrow and said "fine, then don't eat, that's your choice but know that if you don't eat, none of the prisoners will get fed either."

"What?" Harry asked

"You heard me" Voldemort replied "if you don't eat, none of the prisoners will be fed either. Why should I waste food on mere prisoners while my most prized possession goes hungry?"

"I am NOT your possession!" Harry shouted "I'm a human being!"

"Yes you are, on both counts…you belong to me in ways you can't even fathom" Voldemort responded

Suddenly Harry cried out in pain as his scar began to hurt. That dispelled any doubt, this guy WAS Voldemort, Harry didn't know how he had managed to lose the snake-faced look but right then he didn't care

Voldemort blinked briefly in surprise and then the pain stopped

"Very interesting" Voldemort said softly, so softly that Harry didn't think he had been intended to hear it "Now are you going to eat or am I going to tell the guards not to feed the prisoners anymore?"

Wordlessly Harry grabbed the roll of the plate and took a bite out of it

"All of it Harry" Voldemort instructed

Slowly, reluctantly Harry ate, not wanting anyone else to have to go hungry. When he was about halfway through he demanded "Are you going to stand there and watch the whole time?"

Voldemort merely nodded

"Damn it, I'm 16 years old, I'm not a child!" Harry responded, heck he was nearly 17 he'd be of age in two weeks

"Don't act like a child and I won't have to treat you as one." Voldemort replied simply

"Why are you doing all this?!" Harry demanded "Why not just kill me and be done with?!"

"That's simple" Voldemort said "I do not wish to kill you"

"Oh really?" Harry replied "That's not the impression I got the last time we met"

"I won't deny that I intended to kill you then" Voldemort responded "However things have changed, some new information has come to light that changes things"

"Like what?" Harry asked not buying it at all

"Thanks to you, I now know the full contents of that oracle's prophecy" Voldemort said

"If you know the prophecy that just gives you more reason to kill me!" Harry exclaimed

Voldemort shook his head "No, actually it gives me reason not to" seeing the confused look on Harry's face he added "contrary to what some of your previous actions may suggest you are not stupid, apply some of that intelligence."

Harry then finished the rest of his meal and not wanting to deal with Voldemort anymore he snapped "There I'm finished now you can go back to drowning kittens or whatever it is you do in your spare time."

"I assure you Harry, I have never drowned a kitten" Voldemort replied "I have no reason to; I am not the thoughtless monster that you think I am."

Harry gave him a look that said 'yeah right'

"I make no claim to sainthood" Voldemort said "but I do not kill without cause, I do not even hurt without cause."

"So what was the reason for all of those raids?" Harry asked

"It varies, some of them were to strike fear in the hearts of wizards, to show them that I can strike anywhere at any time, others were diversions to draw attention while some of my other followers did things elsewhere. Others were not actually committed by my forces but by thugs and outlaws using the chaos to their own advantage, despite what you may believe, I am not responsible for every crime committed in the wizarding world." Voldemort explained

Then something else Voldemort had said finally hit Harry "You REALLY believe that Trelawney is a seer?"

"No, I do not believe she is a seer, I believe she is an oracle…few people realize that the two are not the same thing." Voldemort responded

Harry shrugged "Both claim to see the future…don't seem that different."

"The difference, young Gryffindor is in the details" Voldemort began "A seer can look into the future at will but all they can see are vague hints, mere possibilities of things that COULD be. An oracle cannot control when the go into their trances and therefore when they gaze into the future but their prophecies are far more specific."

Harry raised a skeptical eyebrow

"You have studied divination and you know a prophecy think about what seems more detailed, a tarot card, a fleeting vision in a crystal ball or 'the one with power to destroy the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies, born to those who have thrice defied him. The dark lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the dark lord knows not. Either must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to destroy the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies'?" Voldemort questioned

Well, that proved that Voldemort definitely knew the entire prophecy but Harry didn't get how it supposedly gave Voldemort reason not to kill him, just the opposite really.

"Now it is late and you need to get some sleep. We will talk more when you join me for breakfast tomorrow." Voldemort said "Good night" and then he walked out of the room.

No way, I am not eating breakfast with you! Harry thought then he remembered Voldemort's threat 'if you don't eat, none of the prisoners will get to eat either'…ugh, it looked like he would be eating breakfast with Voldemort after all…he HAD to get out of here, quickly.


	5. Chapter 5: Breakfast and Revelations

Chapter Five: Breakfast and Revelations

The next morning when Harry woke up, Tinky was leaning over him

"Ahh!" he yelled out because she had startled him

"Tinky is so sorry; Tinky is not meaning to scare young Master!" The elf exclaimed "Master is wanting to Tinky to tell young Master that breakfast is ready and Master is waiting on young Master. Tinky is supposed to be helping young Master get dressed." and then she reached up and grabbed one of her ears, intending to twist it for scaring her new master.

"It's all right Tinky, don't punish yourself." Harry said quickly "I'll get myself dressed too, don't trouble yourself." He then began heading for the closet

"Young master, Tinky is already having young Master's clothes laid out for him. It's no trouble, Tinky is happy to help young Master." The elf responded and pointed to the nightstand where some robes had been laid out. Harry did not have any robes aside from his school robes and his dress robes.

"Those aren't mine, Tinky" Harry said

"Yes, they are" Tinky countered "Master is having them made for young Master; he says young Master is needing real wizard robes not just a school uniform."

Harry understood what Voldemort really meant; he didn't want Harry running around his house wearing Muggle clothes. That of course made Harry WANT to do it, if only to annoy Voldemort. However, if he didn't wear the robes, Tinky would undoubtedly throw a fit and Harry wasn't sure he wanted to deal with that first thing in the morning. Ultimately he decided that he would wear the muggle clothes underneath his robes, have Tinky lead him to the dining hall and then ditch the robes the minute the elf was out of sight.

"Ok Tinky, I need some privacy to get changed." Harry said

Tinky nodded "Ok young Master-"

"I've been meaning to tell you" Harry interjected "Just call me Harry"

"Yes, young Master Harry" Tinky said

"No" Harry shook his head "not young Master Harry, just call me Harry nothing else"

Tinky looked scandalized "Young Master Harry, that is being highly disrespectful! Tinky is NOT doing it, Tinky is not liking to disobey young Master but Tinky is not liking disrespecting young Master even more. Now when young Master Harry is being done dressing, Tinky is being taking him to the dining room for breakfast with Master." Then the elf popped away before Harry could say anything else.

Harry sighed…he really did not understand house elves. Anyway he got dressed and then called Tinky when he was done.

When the elf arrived Harry said "All right, Tinky I am ready for you to lead me to the dining room."

"Sorry young Master Harry but there is being no time for that. Young master Harry is already late and Master is not liking lateness." Then immediately before Harry could formulate a response, the elf grabbed his arm and they both disappeared.

They arrived in the dining room with a pop. Damn it, there went his plan to annoy Voldemort by showing up in muggle clothes…well, it wasn't the end of the world, Harry was certain he could find another way to annoy Voldemort.

"Ah, there you are Harry" Voldemort greeted from his seat at the head of the table "I was beginning to think that you had declined my invitation."

"_Good Morning, young speaker." _Nagini added

"Invitation my arse." Harry responded "Your elf practically dragged me here."

"You could have told her no, if you didn't want to come, she wouldn't have forced you." Voldemort replied

"Riight" Harry said skeptically "and even if she hadn't, you would have starved the prisoners."

"Yes I would have" Voldemort said matter of factly

"Then it's not really a choice is it?" Harry asked

"Yes, it is. Every choice has consequences" Voldemort responded "just because you don't like the consequences of one particular option doesn't mean it's not a choice."

Harry glared at him and plopped himself down at the other end of the table as far as he could from Voldemort. Voldemort began eating his breakfast and affected not to notice. Nagini hissed angrily

"You should say good morning to Nagini, she does not take well to being ignored." Voldemort suggested. Nagini let out another angry hiss for emphasis.

Harry looked down at her and said_ "Good morning Nagini" _Although Harry was no coward, he wasn't a masochist either…there was no need to get into a fight with a venomous snake over a simple good morning. He was outnumbered and alone, he needed to pick his battles and this one wasn't worth fighting.

"That wasn't so difficult, now was it Potter?" Voldemort asked

Harry choose not to dignify that question with an answer

For a while, they ate in silence until eventually Harry broke it "is no one else coming?" would he really not have to deal with any death eaters today…that would be a plus

"No, I usually eat breakfast alone"

Nagini hissed _"What am I chopped liver?!_"

Voldemort smiled slightly "_You didn't let me finish, I was saying that I usually eat breakfast alone, except for my dear Nagini of course._"

"_That's more like it" _Nagini responded

Voldemort then turned back to Harry "that is why we are here, in the family dining room instead of the large dining hall."

"huh?" Harry said intelligently

"It's common in pureblood family homes, particularly for rich and well-connected ones like Slytherin used to be to have two dining areas; one for large public gatherings, for weddings, coming of age ceremonies, balls etc. and another for small family gatherings."

"So why are we here, we're not family." Harry replied

"Two reasons" Voldemort began "since it was only going to be the two of us, I saw no reason to use the massive dining hall and two, my death eaters don't know you are here and for now it is going to stay that way. The massive dining hall is in the public part of the castle-"

"Public part?" Harry repeated

"Yes, another pureblood custom. There are two sections of a proper pureblood house, the public part for guests and visitors and the private part accessible only to members of the family."

"Then what am I doing here, we're not family?!" Harry demanded

"As I already explained, your presence is a secret. Secondly, whether or not we are family depends on your perspective."

"Well, all humans are related if you go back far enough, that doesn't count!" Harry protested

"That is not what I was referring to" Voldemort responded "I assume Dumbledore hasn't told you why I did not die when the killing curse hit me on Halloween."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry asked

"Everything" Voldemort said "However I will only tell you if you swear a blood oath not to reveal this information to anyone without my consent."

"You mean like an unbreakable vow?" Harry assumed

"No, unbreakable vows are poorly named because they are in fact breakable-." Voldemort began but Harry cut him off

"The person who breaks them dies"

"True, but by then the damage is already done, the person has done the thing they swore not to do. Blood oaths are different, when one takes a blood oath; their own blood will prevent them from breaking that oath no matter how hard they try."

"How?" Harry asked

"Our blood is the source of our magic" Voldemort said "it flows through our every vein, every part of our bodies and makes us what we are. Even muggles can sense the latent magical power in blood that is why blood rituals have been performed on every continent in the world except Antarctica. Once you swear a blood oath, the magic in your blood will not allow you to break it. In your case, once you have sworn the oath, you will never be able to reveal what you know. If you try to tell someone else your lips will not form the words no matter how hard you try, if you try to write it down your hands will not form the words either."

"What if someone tries to read my mind?" Harry asked thinking he had found a loophole.

"I will handle that, since our minds are connected I can occlude your mind no matter how far apart we might be and I will because I know you cannot do it yourself and this secret is too important to let anyone know."

"You said Dumbledore already does" Harry pointed out, deliberately ignoring Voldemort's attempt to provoke him, after Umbitch he had lots of practice.

"Yes, he does but he will not have told anyone else, that man holds information very close to the chest."

"Are you saying that you don't?" Harry asked

"No, I however, do not lie to my followers, they know that I do not trust any of them with any more of anything than I have to, Dumbledore however tells his followers that he trusts them with everything but tells them nothing."

Harry wanted to defend Dumbledore but he couldn't…much as Harry hated to admit it, Voldemort had a point. Wasn't Dumbledore's secrecy a big part of the reason why Sirius was dead? Hadn't Harry destroyed much of Dumbledore's office in a fit of rage because of that?

Instead he asked "How exactly would this blood oath work, what would I have to do?"

"Simple make a small cut on your body, traditionally wizards have used the palm of their wand arm, then speak the words, I, Harry Potter, swear by my blood and magic that I will not reveal the information that Lord Voldemort shares with me this morning to any other person, creature, or thing-"

"Thing?" Harry interjected

"Yes, Harry thing" Voldemort said "in the magical world even living objects can think for themselves."

"You mean like your old diary?" Harry said

"Yes or the Hogwarts sorting hat" Voldemort responded "Now as I was saying, you must say I, Harry Potter, swear by my blood and magic that I will not reveal the information that Lord Voldemort shares with me this morning to any other person, creature, or thing without his willingly given consent so mote it be and then I will have to say that I accept your oath so mote it be and then the oath will take effect."

"And if I don't?" Harry asked

"If you don't then you will never know why I have decided that I don't want to kill you, your choice." Voldemort said

For a moment no one spoke while Harry battled within himself, his curiosity warring with his better judgment. His better judgment said that swearing ANYTHING to Voldemort was a bad idea but his curiosity desperately wanted to know why Voldemort wasn't trying to kill him anymore. Besides, it wasn't like he'd sworn to become one of Voldemort's death eaters or anything like that and Dumbledore already knew the information so what harm would there be in swearing to keep it secret?

"All right Tom; I'll swear your oath." Harry said

Voldemort did not respond

"Tom, TOM!" Harry tried again and again got no reply. "I know you can hear me!" Harry shouted

At this Voldemort finally glanced at him "I heard you speaking to someone named Tom, since there is no one here by that name I assumed you must have been speaking to your imaginary friend." He replied

"Don't play dumb, your real name is Tom Riddle, you know it and I know it. You knew full well that I was talking to you, you just ignored me because you're a prick" Harry replied

"No, my real name is Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle was the name given to an orphaned boy by an orphanage matron that despised him."

"Your mother was the one who named you" Harry corrected

"She named me Thomas Marvolo Riddle but no one has EVER called me that. I was always referred to as Tom Riddle growing up named after the pathetic man who abandoned his pregnant wife for being a witch." Voldemort shook his head "No, I am not Tom Riddle anymore, I am Lord Voldemort that IS my true name, it is the person I have chosen to be."

"Then you have chosen to be a TERRIBLE person!" Harry shouted "You kill and torture people for no reason!"

"You do realize I am fighting a war don't you? Wars are not won with hugs and smiles, they are won with bloodshed and violence, that is how it has always been and how it always will be" Voldemort replied

"A war you started!" Harry protested "You're trying to take over and make everyone who is not a pureblood a slave!"

"On the contrary Mister Potter, I did not start this war. This war began before I was even born. The fighters have changed but the cause remains the same."

"Which is?" Harry asked

"At its' very root muggleborns, or more accurately the muggle beliefs and values they bring with them when they enter our world. They don't bother trying to learn our culture or our way of life, they insist we change it to suit them no matter what it costs or who it hurts and the ministry allows it because they are terrified that one of them will expose us to the muggles. For instance take your friend's obsession with SPEW, if she had her way and all the house elves were freed, they would all be dead in a few years."

"What?" Harry asked

"House elf magic is naturally unstable for reasons we don't yet understand what we do understand is that they need the powerful family magic of wizards in order to stabilize their magic and prevent it from destroying them from the inside."

"What's family magic?" Harry asked, this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing

"Family magic is the last of the ancient magics; it is the only one that has not yet been outlawed by the ministry. It is also the least understood; no one knows where it came from but only old pureblooded families have it. It protects the family but it only has power in the ancestral family home. Which is why the most common theory holds that it was been created slowly over the centuries by generations and generations of related wizards living and practicing magic in the same building.

Family magic is also the most precious thing wizards have; it cannot be given to anyone outside the family and certainly not without receiving something very valuable in return."

"That doesn't mean they should be treated like slaves!" Harry said

"In truth, most house-elves are treated fairly well; your friend Dobby was the exception not the norm. The way it works is that the house-elves are granted access to the family magic and the stability it gives their own magic and in exchange they work for that family to ensure its' well being and their mutual continued survival."

"How come Hermonie doesn't know this?" Harry asked "She spent weeks in the library researching it."

"She probably didn't know where to look or who to ask. Much of our culture is not written down, its' unlikely anyone who does not have a house elf would know." Voldemort answered

"So if Tinky is your elf…does that mean that this is the Slytherin family's ancestral home?"

"Yes and no" Voldemort answered

Harry looked confused

"This site was the Slytherin family home for centuries; we lived here before the Romans ever set foot on the British Isles. Salazar Slytherin was born here in fact and returned here when he left Hogwarts. This particular structure however was began in 1214 and took over five years to complete even with magic. However in 1689 a foolish heir with an addiction to both alcohol and gambling lost the entire family fortune and was no longer able to afford the upkeep necessary to maintain it. He couldn't sell the castle since the family magic would reject any owner who was not of the family and so the castle was abandoned and fell into disrepair.

As you can see, I have reclaimed it and restored it to its' former glory, much as I intend to do with wizarding Britain more broadly." Voldemort explained

"How do you know all this?" Harry asked

Voldemort smirked "You didn't think the Samira was the only thing in the Chamber of Secrets did you? It is called the Chamber of _Secrets, _the word secrets is plural and implies more than one secretafter all"

"The basilisk was a she?" Harry blurted

"Yes, indeed. Salazar put her there as a last line of defense in case muggles ever found and accessed Hogwarts." Voldemort replied

"That still doesn't explain how you know what you know" Harry pointed out

"History is written by the victors, Potter. Salazar knew that, he fully expected history to demonize and vilify him when he left Hogwarts but he wanted his heirs to know the truth, so he enchanted a room within the Chamber of Secrets to truthfully record not only his own history but that of his family as well. Its' a good thing to because history knows so very little about the founders, why most people don't even know that Salazar had an older brother." Voldemort said

"He did?" Harry blurted

"Yes, Alaric Slytherin. It was a good thing that Alaric existed since as the eldest the task of managing the family estate when Salazar and his parents died fell onto Alaric's shoulders leaving Salazar free to focus all his attention on Hogwarts. Their younger siblings sadly did not live to adulthood."

"What happened to them?" Harry asked

"The first is the most tragic; when she was six she went over to her muggle best friend's house for a play date. She performed some accidental magic and the muggle girl tattled on her. The muggles swam her

"They did what?" Harry asked confused

"They swam her; it was an English muggle practice. When they found someone suspected of witchcraft they would bind the person up and throw them in a river or lake. The idea was that the water would reject anything impure i.e. anything magical, if the bound person floated they were deemed guilty of witchcraft and burned to death if they sank they were judged innocent, of course the person died either way, really"

"So what happened to the girl?" Harry asked

"She floated thanks to some accidental magic, so the muggles pulled her back in, tied her to a stake and burned her. Her accidental magic wasn't able to save her a second time and so she burned alive…her parents arrived too late to save her."

"That's horrible" Harry said

"The next child was a boy, he died of a bout of dragon pox when he was nine" Voldemort continued

"Dragon Pox, isn't that curable?" Harry asked

"It is now, it wasn't back then." Voldemort explained "The last child was a stillborn girl…Salazar's mother died in the process of giving birth to her as well"

For a moment neither of them spoke…Harry abruptly realized that Nagini had curled up by the fire and fallen asleep but didn't comment on it.

Eventually Voldemort broke the silence "I think we have drifted rather afield here, are you going to swear the oath or not?"

"Yeah, I will" Harry said

Voldemort handed him a ceremonial knife

Harry took a breath, cut his right palm and said "I, Harry Potter, swear by my blood and magic that I will not reveal the information that Lord Voldemort shares with me this morning to any other person, creature, or thing without his willingly given consent so mote it be."

"I, Lord Voldemort, do herby accept Harry Potter's oath so mote it be." Voldemort said

The blood on Harry's palm glowed with a bright red light for a moment and then vanished.

Harry looked at Voldemort expectantly

"The reason I did not die on Halloween is because I made Horcruxes" Voldemort began

"What's a-"Harry started but Voldemort cut him off

"A horcrux is an object that houses part of a wizard's soul; it is created when a wizard performs a specific ritual and then kills someone and in the process of doing that splits their soul and stores part of it in an object turning that object into a horcrux. Since seven is the most powerful magical number I spilt my soul into seven pieces and created six horcruxes…although the last was not intentional."

"You mean you split your soul by accident?!" Harry exclaimed

"No, I spilt my soul on purpose. I intended to create my final horcrux that night, using the death of the one prophesied to defeat me. What I did not intend was making a baby my horcrux."

Harry's eyes widened "a baby, you mean?"

"Yes, Harry, you are my final horcrux. You hold the seventh piece of my soul…or more accurately your scar does."

Harry's hand automatically reached up and felt said scar.

"and Dumbledore knows" Harry said softly

Voldemort nodded "and likely has since that night. Dumbledore knows the 'dark arts' very well…almost as well as I do. He knows that as long as you live, I cannot die. That is why he left you with abusive muggles and why he continues to allow you to get into danger time and time again, year after year. He needs you to die in order for the light to win this war, he was no doubt hoping that I would kill you myself, he would love the irony of it."

"You're lying!" Harry yelled "Dumbledore wouldn't do that!"

"Oh really, not even for the 'greater good'?" Voldemort asked "Then why did he not realize that his defense professor had a dark lord on the back of his head? Why did he not take my diary away from Ginny Weasley? He knew about it, the schools' protective wards would have alerted him the instant such a powerful magical object crossed into the grounds. Why did he allow you to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, he could have easily assigned you to do three simple tasks and called them challenges that would have been enough to satisfy the magical contract and then let the three overage champions compete in the actual tasks?

Going back even earlier, as chief warlock of the Wizengamont why did he not demand that Sirius Black be given a trial? As chief warlock it would have been a simple matter-"

"… I still couldn't have lived with Sirius because of the blood wards" Harry said slowly

"Perhaps, but those wards became irrelevant when I took your blood last year and he knew that…you told him didn't you?" Voldemort responded

Harry nodded slowly reluctantly

"So why were you sent there anyway, he knew you weren't happy or well cared for there. Furthermore the blood wards would have only protected you from ME since I was the one who spilled your mother's blood in the first place. If any of my followers found you, they would have been able to kill you and Dumbledore knew that too, so why did he leave you with only muggles and a squib for protection?"

"He said that he wanted me to have a normal childhood" Harry protested…but this time his protest was feeble compared to his last one

"Riight, because most kids spend their lives being treated as slaves forced to do every single chore in the house, being used as a human punching bag-"

"Shut up!" Harry yelled "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" he didn't want to hear this, any of it…especially since he couldn't think of any good counter arguments.

Voldemort looked at Harry for a moment. He knew he had succeeded in taking Dumbledore down a peg, that's why Harry was reacting so defensively but it would take more than one conversation to completely destroy Dumbledore's pedestal. He eventually decided that the best course would be to leave Harry alone to think for now…after all, one didn't knock down a castle wall with a single massive blow, one knocked down castle walls slowly, methodically blow by blow, bit by bit. He had struck the first one; his work for the moment was done. Besides he doubted that the boy would listen to a word he said right now anyway…he'd to wait for Potter to calm down first and that would probably take a while.

He cast a tempus spell "I apologize but I must leave you now. There are other matters which require my immediate attention. If you wish to do some research on your own; Tinky will take you to the private library if you ask her to. Good day, Mister Potter." Voldemort announced and then he stood up and walked out of the room leaving Harry with his thoughts…and Nagini who had somehow managed to stay asleep through all the shouting.


End file.
